203 Local Nurses to Join Health Sector

Some 203 locally trained nurses are expected to join the South East Regional Health Authority (SERHA) as of Monday (Feb. 5) to boost the staff complement in several hospitals across the region.

Minister of Health, Hon. Dr. Fenton Ferguson, made the announcement on Wednesday (Feb. 1), following a tour of the Kingston Public Hospital (KPH) and the Victoria Jubilee Hospital (VJH) downtown, Kingston.

He said the nurses, who had recently graduated from local training schools, “would provide a significant boost to the shortage of nurses in the region”.

Director, Nursing Services, VJH, Valerie Taylor Seedley, informed JIS News that 94 of the nurses would join the staff at KPH, while 14 would be welcomed at the VJH.

The remainder, she said, would be sent to other facilities across the region, including the Bustamante Hospital for Childlren, the Spanish Town and Linstead Hospitals in St. Catherine, and the Princess Margaret Hospital in St. Thomas.

In the meantime, Dr. Ferguson told journalists that he was particularly impressed with the level of work and professionalism exhibited by the staff at the two institutions toured. He however admitted that there were obvious challenges in the system that must be addressed with urgency.

“We recognise that the challenges across the sector are many. My task is to see, to what extent, we can put systems in place to improve the services offered. It is not necessarily about greater funds, but to see how we can reorganise the funding that we now receive to get better service for every dollar that is spent,” he stated.

Among the concerns the Minister noted were the shortage of staff, particularly pharmacists and nurses; lack of necessary machinery and equipment for critical patient care; the need for the further training of personnel; as well as a shortage of space at the KPH records unit.

As it relates to staffing, he informed that government is looking at a long-term plan to train and retain more professionals for the public sector. ‘There are some specific areas as it relates to specialised staff that still presents a challenge. We are training more, but we are also, by attrition, losing more of our nurses,” he noted. He said that there are about 45 pharmacists working in the public sector, with an opening for close to 150.

Dr. Ferguson informed that work was underway to rectify the problems related to critical care, including the expansion of the KPH’s dialysis unit to accommodate more patients. “There are discussions underway between the SERHA and the CHASE (Culture, Health, Arts, Sports and Education) Fund to expand the unit to allow for some additional 16 to 18 dialysis machines, which would increase access to a greater number of patients, many of whom are currently on a waiting list,” he said.

He said that the Ministry has acquired the parts needed for the repair of the cobalt unit used to administer radiotherapy to cancer patients at the KPH, noting that the machine should be up and running within the next two weeks.

During the extensive tour of the two institutions the Minister was accompanied by Advisor and Consultant in the Ministry, Hurley Taylor; Chief Medical Officer, Eva Lewis-Fuller; Chairman, SERHA, Lyttleton Shirley; Chief Executive Officer, KPH/VJH, Godfrey Boyd; and Regional Director, Donald Farquharson.

By Athaliah Reynolds, JIS Reporter